In a fiery volley with Wyoming’s secretary of state, a retired attorney asking a state judge to remove Donald Trump from the state’s election ballot is now warning the judge that she could suffer death threats if she sides with him. Â
Tim Newcomb issued the warning in a Wednesday response to filings by Secretary of State Chuck Gray in which he also urges Gray to resign.Â
Gray responded by calling Newcomb a "madman."Â
Newcomb and Gray have been sparring in back-and-forth court filings following Newcomb’s Nov. 1 petition asking Albany County District Court Judge Misha Westby to prevent former President Trump and U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis from appearing on the state’s election ballots ever again. Â
Gray is fighting the petition, arguing that Newcomb lacks standing in the lawsuit and doesn’t have a lawful argument anyway. Â
Newcomb’s Wednesday filing is his “final response” to Gray, it says. It urges Westby to set a hearing on the issues. Newcomb also claims in his filing that if Westby sides with him, others will threaten her over it.Â
“In candor to the Court, death threats — if the Court agrees with the Petitioner’s Verified Complaint … against the Court, her Honor, litigants, witnesses, staff personnel and their families, will come,” says Newcomb’s filing. Â
It then cites a 2015 Politico news story in which the outlet reported that then-presidential candidate Donald Trump said the U.S. government should “take out” Islamic State operatives’ families. Â
The filing also asks Gray to resign. Â
“The Secretary should resign immediately, in disgrace, for his attempt at stochastic terror against Wyoming’s Judiciary, thenapologize (sic) to the Court and its staff personnel,” reads the filing. Â
Another Flaming ArrowÂ
Gray responded to Newcomb’s claims in a Thursday text to Cowboy State Daily.Â
“Mr. Newcomb’s screed reflects the ravings of a radical Left wing mad man,” wrote Gray. “Its (sic) another example of the tactics of lunatics of the radical Left with their outrageously wrong attempts at election interference.” Â
See The FootnotesÂ
Responding to a Cowboy State Daily phone call requesting clarification, Newcomb said he could not give an official comment at this phase, but he referred the outlet to the footnotes on his filing. Â
The footnotes lead to a Dec. 7 press release by Gray’s office, in which the secretary of state called Newomb’s effort “outrageously wrong and repugnant to our electoral process” and a “radical attempt to interfere with Wyoming’s elections.” Â
Gray vowed to fight the petition, and said, “The weaponization of the Fourteenth Amendment to remove political opponents from the ballot undermines the sanctity of the Constitution.” Â
Wikipedia, YouTube, CNNÂ
The other footnotes lead to:Â
- A Monday CNN story reporting threats made against the Colorado Supreme Court Justices who ruled last week to remove Trump from the 2024 presidential ballot.
- A Wikipedia definition for “stochastic terrorism.”Â
- A federal statute barring conspiracy to threaten or intimidate people who are exercising their rights.
- The homepage of the Wyoming Court Security Commission.
- And a YouTube video featuring an interviewer questioning a source about reported “threats to public officials.”Â
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
